Hampton University

Date: Jan 10 2015
Major: Business - Management and Administration (This Major's Salary over time)
I know this is long but if you are considering spending four years here it's imperative that you see unfiltered good and bad about Hampton. This is mostly what nobody will tell you and a lot of things you don't consider when you go to choose a college. I want to be completely transparent and not just slam the university. There are things that are done very well but in my opinion there are others that are not, however I will start with the good. There are many successful people that have come from Hampton and the rest of this review is not meant to say that a degree from Hampton is worthless. There is a common perception that historically black colleges are ghetto. Hampton is over 90% black but is no way ghetto. Much like any other university there are good and bad professors. The professors know what they're doing and the small class size allows time for questions in class. Conversely, there are many things that I abhor about Hampton. If you look on the college board, you will see that Hampton graduates about 68% of students which is actually up from 55%. If you ask anyone at the school about it they will tell you that a lot of programs that are 5 and 6 year programs which is one half of it, but the real reason is that Hampton makes the first year affordable by giving students a $10,000 or $20,000 or full scholarship depending on your high school grades and SAT scores and a few other factors. You're really excited when you get it but almost everyone gets it. But, what nobody tells you is that the GPA required (3.3) to keep the scholarship and other things like community service and your schedule is too much for over 70% of students to keep the scholarship so they have to end up transferring because the $30,000+ tuition is too much for most families. Also, a required class is university 101 which may be standard at other classes but its really a waste of a credit hour with a weekly clich? speaker with nothing new to say. It makes you think why the $30,000 price tag when they teach something so useless. By the end of it you and the rest of the auditorium will just sit listening to music waiting for the sign in sheet to come around. One thing you overlook when you pick a school is the area surrounding the campus. The only place that's in walking distance is a subway, two Chinese restaurants and a smoothie place. There are no grocery stores, other restaurants, movie theaters, or anything else and if you need to go to the doctor then its like a $40 cab ride and it's likely that you will need to at some point because the health center only takes care of the flu and STDs. It's nearly impossible to get off campus without a taxi or an upperclassman that usually charges close to a taxi fee. So, you end up spending a lot more on late not Chinese food and pizzas which sounds really college and cool, but it just gets really expensive since there's a $10 delivery minimum. Nobody mentions that you can't bring a mini fridge or a microwave, and there's one mini fridge and nasty microwave that will probably break and not be replaced for the whole floor (30-40) people. So nobodys end up using the fridge because you can't get groceries and its pretty much just free groceries for someone else. So the only thing you can get is candy from the vending machine which at least for me gave me the freshman 15 in the first three months which is really my fault. Also, when you tour the campus they will not take you in any academic buildings or dorms which should be a red flag. In high school you're used to the 2x3 ft desks but here they're about half the size which you'll get used to. But also the desks are really close to each other so if the person in front of you didn't shower you'll definitely know about it. Also the outside of the buildings are know indication of the inside of the buildings. The university is cognizant of where the tours go which is where the campus is kept up. Also, the dorms are subpar. I am in a freshman, mens dorm (Harkness Hall), so I'll admit that it's on the lower end of the dorms. The room is just that, a room and nothing else. There's room for a bed, a desk and a closet, which is standard in college with some dorms having a sink and shower, but not here. The bathroom and shower are at the middle of the hall which is really just tedious but admittedly minor. Another tedious thing is meals. Most of the dorms are about a half a mile or more from the cafeteria which you really don't consider but you end up missing meals because you don't feel like a mile round trip especially in the colder winter months. Unlike most other schools the dining hall doesn't close down during the day which it does here which you get used to. Generally the food is hit or miss and the only time you know it will be good is times like parent's weekend, homecoming and Fried Chicken Wednesdays (Yes, it's not just a rumor. Fried Chicken Wednesdays at HBCUs is a thing and I look forward to it every week). I don't know how publicized this but Hampton does have a freshman curfew which is 11 on weeknights and 1 on weekends. It's more tedious than anything else and you get used to it but your friends from other schools will make fun of you for not going to a real college. But nobody tells you that there's no visitation. You can't have any girls (if you're a guy and vice versa) on your floor at all as a freshman unless they're your parents. If you're caught on a floor you shouldn't be on you will probably get kicked out of school. It's the same with alcohol. It's no secret that college kids drink but if you're caught with alcohol or someone finds out you've been drinking you can get kicked out for that. The school is really conservative and somewhat overly Christian, not that that's a bad thing but that just isn't for everyone. Hampton is a good college, good not great. There is a personality type that likes Hampton, but it's not for everyone. If you've gone to a white high school and liked it and think an HBCU would be a nice change of pace just beware. I'm not saying it's the wrong place for you but just be advised that it might not be what you want. If you ask an alumnus they tell you how much they loved Hampton but that's because the people that didn't like it transferred. As a disclaimer I am a freshman and freshman classes everywhere are remedial and boring but there are some things that don't really change. I picked Hampton without getting a holistic picture and turned a blind eye to a lot of things and I'm paying for it now. I just don't want someone to make the same mistake I by overlooking the red flags and simply not thinking about a lot of things.